Audiences don’t vote for D.C. ‘Housewives’

Bravo series premieres to 1.6 million viewers

The Thursday premiere of “The Real Housewives of D.C.” got off to a sluggish start for Bravo compared to other debuts of past “Housewives” skeins.

With 1.6 million tuning in, that’s a significant drop-off from the 2.7 million who watched the second-season launch of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” in July 2009. That episode remains the most-watched premiere of any of the “Housewives” franchise.

Worth noting is that the “D.C.” numbers were low despite the publicity created by one of the cast members, Michaele Salahi, who, with her husband, crashed a White House function in November.

Bravo drew 1.9 million total viewers for the final episode of “Bethenny Getting Married?” That’s just above the 1.8 million season average.